It’s no surprise that many computer crimes have stupid criminals behind them. But it’s not every day that you have cops getting caught at their workplace.

A New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer has been arrested and accused of paying more than $4,000 via Paypal for “e-mail hacking services.” The officer used this service to gain access to “at least 43 personal e-mail accounts and one cellular phone belonging to at least 30 different individuals, including 21 who are affiliated with the NYPD; of those 21, 19 are current NYPD officers, one is a retired NYPD officer, and one is on the NYPD’s administrative staff.”

The complaint was sent to Ars by the United States Attorney’s Office. It alleges the Bronx-based detective hired an “e-mail hacking service” to reach those 43 accounts between March 2011 and October 2012. He is believed to have accessed “at least one personal e-mail account belonging to a current NYPD officer after receiving the account’s log-in credentials from the hacking service. Vargas also accessed the [National Crime Information Center], a federal database, to obtain information about at least two of those NYPD officers without authorization to do so.”

The document reveals that FBI Special Agent Samad Shahrani, who obtained and searched Vargas’ work computer, found some seemingly damning evidence in Vargas' Gmail account. The discoveries include:

- A list of at least 20 e-mail addresses along with what appear to be telephone numbers, home addresses, and vehicle information corresponding to those e-mail addresses. There also appears to be passwords for those e-mail addresses.

- The list includes information for at least one e-mail address with the name and address of Victim 1. According to the NYPD, Victim 1, as well as a number of individuals whose e-mail passwords and other information are listed, is an NYPD officer.

- At least two e-mail addresses for E-mail Hacking Services.

Vargas’ attorney, James Moschella, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

33 Reader Comments

Why? Was he looking for dirt on other cops so he could have leverage? Or was he crooked and was looking to see if anyone was onto him? It's usually one or the other.

I speak from direct experience, although the org in question was not a police dept. Guy was stealing from the org, and he also hacked several people's mailboxes - people who would know if there was an investigation against him. Ironically hacking was detected first, and then theft was discovered in the course of that investigation. He served 90 days in jail for it, and did not have to repay what he took.

If a police officer hacks the police, he gets prosecuted. If he shoots an innocent person 10 times in the back, he's suspended with pay while an internal investigation determines that the cop acted in self defense. Lesson: don't mess with the 5-0.

Why is it that I hear "suspended with pay" in regards to just about any transgression performed by a police officer? If this were any other job, these people would have their asses shoved out the door in two seconds, possibly with a lawsuit (or criminal charges) following shortly.

Why? Was he looking for dirt on other cops so he could have leverage? Or was he crooked and was looking to see if anyone was onto him? It's usually one or the other.

I speak from direct experience, although the org in question was not a police dept. Guy was stealing from the org, and he also hacked several people's mailboxes - people who would know if there was an investigation against him. Ironically hacking was detected first, and then theft was discovered in the course of that investigation. He served 90 days in jail for it, and did not have to repay what he took.

Why is it that I hear "suspended with pay" in regards to just about any transgression performed by a police officer? If this were any other job, these people would have their asses shoved out the door in two seconds, possibly with a lawsuit (or criminal charges) following shortly.

If they are found guilty of their transgression, do they have to pay the money back from this paid vacation? Or is there a good reason this happens? If there is, I am at a loss as to what it could be.

I'm confused. Each week there are articles here about people that are accused of computer hacking crimes. Some of these people are low-life scum that try exploiting others for political or financial motives. Some of them are skirting legal grey areas and aren't actually harming anyone. Other exploit gaping holes in big corportation's security to have some silly laughs. And each week, the potential sentences are decades.

Here is a guy who paid money to compromise more than forty email accounts. It is confirmed that he compromised at least one police officer's account and had access to login credentials for many other accounts. He also used a federal database to gather information on other police officers without autorization.

His potential maximum sentence is only two years? Really? This can't be true. How come he isn't being slapped with a severe hacking charge for each and every one of the email accounts that he wanted to access as it seems is the common practice for all other alleged hacking crimes?

Why is it that I hear "suspended with pay" in regards to just about any transgression performed by a police officer? If this were any other job, these people would have their asses shoved out the door in two seconds, possibly with a lawsuit (or criminal charges) following shortly.

If they are found guilty of their transgression, do they have to pay the money back from this paid vacation? Or is there a good reason this happens? If there is, I am at a loss as to what it could be.

Union rules.

Ah. Must be nice to be so footloose and fancy-free with taxpayer money.

I believe the argument goes along the lines that, as a suspect, they do not want to leave him in a position of authority (suspended), however, the legal system considers him 'innocent' until proven otherwise and so it would be illegal to punish him preemptively (so he keeps getting his pay). He probably won't have to pay that money back, since it was given to him at a time of presumed innocence.

The guy sounds like a mafia plant to me. Also those of you who think all cops are bad, obviously don't know very many cops.

I know a lot of cops and I now of several that left the force because either the racism or the corruption was so bad they couldn't take it anymore. It is a crap-shoot whether a department is good or bad, but from my personal observation it is a top down kind of thing. If the Chief or Commander is a good guy, those under him tend to be as well, but a ineffectual or crap Commander tends to lead to a precinct of bottom feeders.

Why is it that I hear "suspended with pay" in regards to just about any transgression performed by a police officer? If this were any other job, these people would have their asses shoved out the door in two seconds, possibly with a lawsuit (or criminal charges) following shortly.

If they are found guilty of their transgression, do they have to pay the money back from this paid vacation? Or is there a good reason this happens? If there is, I am at a loss as to what it could be.

Union rules.

Yup. My wife works in a union shop. Someone was caught stealing (about $4k worth of stuff) and she was suspended for a month with pay while her union rep fought for her job (came up with an excuse that kept her from getting fired). One year later she was caught again for the same thing and again she was suspended with pay. This time she was finally fired.

I have a ton of stories just like that dealing with union bullshit. I am not anti-union but hell the shit they get away with is crazy, and the cop union stuff nearly enters the twilight zone.

Why is it that I hear "suspended with pay" in regards to just about any transgression performed by a police officer? If this were any other job, these people would have their asses shoved out the door in two seconds, possibly with a lawsuit (or criminal charges) following shortly.

If they are found guilty of their transgression, do they have to pay the money back from this paid vacation? Or is there a good reason this happens? If there is, I am at a loss as to what it could be.

Union rules.

Yup. My wife works in a union shop. Someone was caught stealing (about $4k worth of stuff) and she was suspended for a month with pay while her union rep fought for her job (came up with an excuse that kept her from getting fired). One year later she was caught again for the same thing and again she was suspended with pay. This time she was finally fired.

I have a ton of stories just like that dealing with union bullshit. I am not anti-union but hell the shit they get away with is crazy, and the cop union stuff nearly enters the twilight zone.

Why is it that I hear "suspended with pay" in regards to just about any transgression performed by a police officer? If this were any other job, these people would have their asses shoved out the door in two seconds, possibly with a lawsuit (or criminal charges) following shortly.

If they are found guilty of their transgression, do they have to pay the money back from this paid vacation? Or is there a good reason this happens? If there is, I am at a loss as to what it could be.

Union rules.

Yup. My wife works in a union shop. Someone was caught stealing (about $4k worth of stuff) and she was suspended for a month with pay while her union rep fought for her job (came up with an excuse that kept her from getting fired). One year later she was caught again for the same thing and again she was suspended with pay. This time she was finally fired.

I have a ton of stories just like that dealing with union bullshit. I am not anti-union but hell the shit they get away with is crazy, and the cop union stuff nearly enters the twilight zone.

Keep in mind that its not just unions making up whatever rules they want to play by. These are collectively bargained agreements between the union and the company/municipality. The company/municipality has to agree to the agreement and can fight for things they want included as well.

Anyone else get the sinking suspicion that he would probably would have received mere administrative punishment, or at most, dismissal, had his victims been ordinary civilians and not fellow officers?

He betrayed the brotherhood, so the brotherhood came down on him. Though not hard enough ... Swartz gets pushed over the edge by a threat of 35 years in PMITA prison for downloading some files created with public money, cop gets a laughable fraction of that for conspiracy to hack tens of email accounts. Justice is blind, my ass.

Why is it that I hear "suspended with pay" in regards to just about any transgression performed by a police officer? If this were any other job, these people would have their asses shoved out the door in two seconds, possibly with a lawsuit (or criminal charges) following shortly.

If they are found guilty of their transgression, do they have to pay the money back from this paid vacation? Or is there a good reason this happens? If there is, I am at a loss as to what it could be.

Union rules.

Yup. My wife works in a union shop. Someone was caught stealing (about $4k worth of stuff) and she was suspended for a month with pay while her union rep fought for her job (came up with an excuse that kept her from getting fired). One year later she was caught again for the same thing and again she was suspended with pay. This time she was finally fired.

I have a ton of stories just like that dealing with union bullshit. I am not anti-union but hell the shit they get away with is crazy, and the cop union stuff nearly enters the twilight zone.

You think the FOP is bad you should hear some of the NJEA stories. I work in a large school district in NJ, right after Thanksgiving this year one of my co-workers got a DUI. It was his 3rd time getting a DUI in 10 years. He went to the union immediately the next day & told them what happened.

Long story short...... The union brought the issue to the district from the perspective that he was an addict & needed help. They sent him to an all expenses paid inpatient (think betty ford clinic) rehab facility outside of Sarasota Florida. He was there for 4 months and was being paid the entire time. On top of that he got money from his private disability insurance company while he was out of work. HE GOT DOUBLE PAID THE WHOLE TIME!

The best part is after all of that he comes back & puts his resignation in 2 weeks later because its almost definite he's going to jail for at least 60 days, and probably won't have a valid NJ drivers license for the next 10+ years.

If a police officer hacks the police, he gets prosecuted. If he shoots an innocent person 10 times in the back, he's suspended with pay while an internal investigation determines that the cop acted in self defense. Lesson: don't mess with the 5-0.